The Portland daily press., 1887-10-26

It was the fate of the English people in
enc other great and calamitous crisis of their
country that their affairs should be man.
aged by government that was not in SYM
pathy with the people, with those' who in
England are called the common people,"
The masses Of England, who in those days
OF restricted suffrage could make their influ-
snce felt only indirectly upon the govern
ment, were opposed to the coercion of the
American colonies. But this sentiment, re-
pressed BY aristocrstic forms, found itself
impotent to extend to America any more
substantial relief than was embodied in the
words and acts of William Pitt In hun
bred years the suffrage has been extended
greatly; but even yet, in general election,
the people Of the United Kingdom do not
have an equal chance with the voters of the
upper classes, each Of whom may vote in
many different places according to the dis
tribution Of his estates. The Irish leaders
claim that at tho last general election ma
1ority Of the voters were favorable to them
and to Gladstone, although the majority of
the votes were against them. So it seems
that again, after lapse of century, the
English people find their government pursu-
Ing course which they do not approve
But between the democratic opposition that
disapproved Granville and Lord North and
the democratic opposition that to-day arrays
Itself against Salisbury there is hardly a
point Of comparison so far as actual power
Is concerned. The one had Pitt, the other
has Gladstone. But even Pitt owed his seat
In Parliament to the favor of an aristocratic
family; Gladstone has only to say by what
constituency Of the people OF England he
shall be returned, and he has score of lieu
tenants as Independent as he. Yet Lord
Salisbury seems to think that he can carry
In Ireland hand even higher than Lord
North attempted to carry in America. 1t i.
true that by their geographical position
and by reason Of many other disadvantages
the Irish are able to make no such successful
resistance as did the Americans. But it is
at home, in England itself. that Lord Sails
bury must meet his foes. The forciblo ar
rest OF Sir Wilfrid Blunt at Woodford, in
County Galway, Ireland, is most startling
circumstance, significant of the crisis which
the ariLtocratic party Of England is facing
Here is an English Baronet, himself mem
Der OF the aristocracy, but man Of phian-
thropic ideas, fcrcibly arrested and dragged
TO prison, while his wife. "lady" by title,
as well as in fact is.left to the sympathies of
the crowd. All this was done for no other
reason than that Sir Wilfrid Blunt attempted
to exercise the right Of free speech in Ire
land. 1t is no more tyrannical an act to arrest
the English Baronet than to arrest man OF
the people like the Irishman O'Brien; but it is
more significant sinceit shows that the conflict
is not between Englishmen and Irishmen, but
between liberalism and conservatism; and
that the privileged classes will not spare one
Of their own order even, if he espouse the
cause Of the democracy. But the attitude of
men like Sir Wilfrid Blunt, Sir William Har-
court, Lord Roseberry and Earl Granville,
shows the formidable array of liberalism
which Lord Salisbury is confronting, a lib
eralism which not only rallies the masses
but draws in prominent members of the
aristocracy either by the business of its prin-
ciples or through their fear of its yigor. II
Is true that at present the Tory party has
the advantage Of privilege, especially at the
polls; but the disadvantages which hold
back the people are slight to what they were
in other days, especially in those days when
Lord North drove America into indepen-
dence in spite of the better sentiment of Eng
land. The general convention of the Liber-
ais at Nottingham, where the Radical Nor.
ley was, next to Gladstone, the pet of the
hour, showed vigor and determination
which must sumount the comparatively
slight obstacles which prevent the better
sentiment of the England of to-day from do
ing justice to Ireland. 1t is the good fortune
OF Lord Salisbury to live in an England
where the facilities Of the people for express
ing their VIII are so much better than they
were century ago that it will, unless al
signs fail, be impossible for him to carry hi.
blunder to the deplOrable limit reached BY
the ministry Of Lord NORTH